Bulletin No. 20. (Dairy No. 19.) 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

O p BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 

1B7.U15 



C>C* 



THE MILK SUPPLY OF BOSTON 



AND OTHER NEW ENGLAND CITIES. 



BY 



G-EORG-E M. WHITAKER, M. A. 

SPECIAL EXPERT AGENT, DAIRY DIVISION. 



Under the direction of 

Dr. D. E. SALMON, 
Chief of the Bureau, of ,A.iaim.al In.ciu.stry-. 




WASHINGTON" : 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1898. 




Qass. 
Book. 



£_Eli^ 



Bulletin 20, B. A. I. 



Plate I. 




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Bulletin No. 20. (Dairy No. 19.) 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



^ ■ 



THE MILK SUPPLY OF BOSTON 



AND OTHER NEW ENGLAND CITIES. 



BY 



GKEOTl-GKE M. ^HITAKKR, M. A. 

SPECIAL EXPERT AGENT, DAIRY DIVISION. 



Under the direction of 

Dr. D. E. SALMON, 
Cliief of the Bureau of .A.nima.1 Industry. 




WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT PRIN.T^NG^ OFFICE. 

1898.J \\ 



*, 






D.ofn. 






£ 

V 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

Bureau of Animal Industry, 
Washington, D. C, January 18, 1898. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for publication as a bul- 
letin of this Bureau, a report on the milk supply of Boston and other 
cities in the New England States, prepared under the immediate super- 
vision of Maj. Henry E. Alvord, Chief of Dairy Division, by George M. 
Whitaker, M. A., special agent of that division. 

Mr. Whitaker is the acting executive officer of the Massachusetts 
State Dairy Bureau, and has been for some years secretary of the New 
England Milk Producers' Union. He has made the subject of city milk 
supply a special study, and this report contains much information of 
general interest. ,. ..-..• 

Very respectfully, ' "' ■' D. E. Salmon, 

Chief of Bureau of Animal Industry. 
Hon. James Wilson, 

Secretary of Agriculture. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Population 7 

Milk supply : Transportation, distribution, statistics 9 

Boston — 

Cars 9 

Cans 9 

Historical 10 

Wholesale methods 11 

The wholesalers or contractors 12 

Statistics 13 

Milk Producers' Union 14 

Prices paid, several years 15 

Grading the price . 16 

Contra*' tors' surplus 17 

Retailing 19 

Returning clean cans 20 

Methods of producers and sb ippers 20 

Boston system summed up 21 

Other milk supply 22 

Providence 23 

Other cities 24 

The cream trade 25 

Skim milk 26 

Condensed milk 27 

Milk consumption per capita 27 

Milk laws and inspection 28 

Legal standard and adulteration 28 

Official inspection 29 

Sanitary laws and inspection 30 

Health orders 32 

Quality of milk sold 32 

Need of advanced practices 36 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Plate I. Map showing the principal sources of the milk supply of the Greater 

Boston Frontispiece. 

II. Fig. 1. Milk train at city terminal, Boston 10 

2. Interior of milk-receiving sheds, city terminal. 

III. Fig. 1. Milk depot of Boston contractor 10 

2. Interior of milk-contractor's depot, Boston. 

5 



THE MILK SUPPLY OF BOSTON AND OTHER NEW 
ENGLAND CITIES. 



POPULATION. 

The New England States, by the census of 1890, have a population 
of nearly 5,000,000 people, divided as follows: 

Massachusetts 2,238,943 

Connecticut 746, 258 

Maine 661, 086 

New Hampshire 376, 530 

Rhode Island 345, 506 

Vermont. 332,422 



Total 4, 700, 745 

Massachusetts, by the State census of 1895, has a population of 
2,500,183. Fifty per cent of these people live in the cities or large 
towns — those of 10,000 population or above. Forty-one per cent of the 
population of New England live in cities of over 20,000 inhabitants. 
Boston is the largest city and the commercial center of New England, 
witli a population of 496,920 (census of 1895). This one city therefore 
contains 10 per cent of all the population of New England; more than 
any one of the States of Ehode Island, New Hampshire, or Vermont. 
But Boston is surrounded by a group of towns and cities, twenty-three 
in all, which, according to the State census of 1895, have a total popu- 
lation of 451,000, as follows: 

Cambridge 81,000 Medford 14,000 

Lynn 62, 000 I Hyde Park 11, 000 

Somerville 52. 000 j Melrose 12, 000 

Chelsea 31,000 Stoneham 6,000 

Newton 27, 000 Arlington 6, 000 

Maiden 29, 000 I Belmout 3, 000 

Waltham 20,000 > Saugus 4,000 

Quincy 20,000 \ Winchester 6,000 

Woburn 14, 000 ! Watertown 7, 000 

Brookline 16,000 ', Revere 7,000 

Everett... 18,000 Milton 5,000 

The interests of these towns are closely allied witli those of Boston, 
and their business men to a large extent do business in Boston. The 
business interests of this section are identical, though it includes 
twenty-four separate municipalities. Consequently it is frequently 

7 



8 

alluded to as the " Greater Boston." The Greater Boston has a popu- 
lation which exceeds 948,000. This is 18 per cent of the population of 
New England — more than any New England State except Massachu- 
setts, and more than any two of the three smaller States. 

Providence is the second New England city, with a population exceed- 
ing 150,000. 

Aside from the Greater Boston and Providence, no New England city, 
by the census of 1890, had a population exceeding 100,000. The fol- 
lowing five cities, with a total of 374,000 persons, each had a population 
exceeding 50,000, but less than 100,000: 



Census 
of 1890. 



State 

census of 

1895. 



New Haven, Conn 
Worcester, Mass. . 
Lowell, Mass ...... 

Fall River, Mass.. 
Hartford, Conn . . . 



85, 000 
84, 000 
77, 000 
74, 000 
53, 000 



98, 000 
84, 000 
89, 000 



The following nineteen cities (total, 534,000) had a population between 
20,000 and 50,000, and thirty-six others had a population of from 10,000 
to 20,000 each : 



Bridgeport, Conn. 
Manchester, N. H 
Lawrence, Mass . _ 
Springfield, Mass. 



Census 
of 1890. 



49. 000 
44, 000 
44, 000 
44, 000 



New Bedford, Mass ! 41,000 



Portland, Me . 
Holyoke. Mass . . - 

Salem, Mass 

Waterbury, Conn 
Pawtucket, R. I . . 



36, 000 
35, 000 
30, 000 
28, 000 
27, 000 



1 State 
census 
of 1895. 



52, 000 
51, 000 
55, 000 



40, COO 
34, 000 



Brockton, Mass . 
Haverhill, Mass. 
Taunton, Mass . . 

Lewistoii, Me 

Fitchburg, Mass 
Woonsocket, R. I 
Gloucester, Mass 
Meriden, Conn . . 
Lincoln, R. I 



Census 
of 1890. 



27, 000 
27, 000 
25, 000 
22, 000 
22, 000 
21, 000 
21, 000 
21, 000 
20, 000 



State 
census 
of 1895. 



38, 000 
30, 000 
27, 000 



26, 000 
28, 666 



A study of the milk supply of these cities, therefore, is a study of 
the milk supply of half of the population of New England. Further- 
more, a consideration of the milk supply of New England must, to a 
considerable extent, be devoted to the milk supply of the Greater Bos- 
ton, which has 18 per cent of all the population of New England and 
over one- third of the city population of that section, the remainder being 
distributed among sixty- four places. 

It is proper that Boston should receive almost a monopoly of atten- 
tion for another reason than that of its relative size and commercial 
importance. It is about the only city in New England whose supply 
presents interesting and peculiar conditions. 

Nearly all of the milk supply of the other cities and large towns 
comes from sources within a dozen miles of the point of consumption, 
and is largely distributed by producers from their own wagons. The 
ordinary milk peddler is such a familiar spectacle, so similar to every 
other peddler, as to make a detailed report of his work in the different 



9 

cities an uninteresting repetition of substantially the same methods, 
conditions, and circumstances which are already well known. On the 
other hand, most of the Greater Boston supply coming from more 
remote distances by railroads, presents conditions peculiar to itself. 

MILK SUPPLY — TRANSPORTATION, DISTRIBUTION, STATISTICS. 



Cays.— Three-fourths of the milk supply of the Greater Boston 
reaches the city by railroad. The longest direct run is 140 miles, and 
some railroad milk comes only 20 miles. Most of this milk is conveyed 
in cars built for this especial purpose, with refrigerator closets for the 
cans of milk and with provision for steam heat. Thus refrigeration in 
summer and warming in winter are provided. Some of the cars have 
an office room provided with chairs, desk, and pigeonholes for the use 
of the man in charge of the car. Here he has all needed conveniences 
for keeping record of the milk taken at the different stations, and 
other necessary accounts. 

These cars are leased from the railroads by wholesalers. These 
wholesalers furnish the carmen, ice, and other supplies; the railroad 
hauls the cars on passenger trains or in special milk trains, according to 
convenience in individual cases. A I ost of the cars start in the morning, 
from 4 to 6 o'clock, and reach the city between 10 and 11. In a few 
instances the car starts the afternoon previous, and is on the road over 
night, reaching Boston during the next forenoon. The cars, in the 
summer, frequently take the milk of the same morning; some start too 
early for the milk of that morning, especially in the winter, and hence 
bring the milk of the previous day. Milk is therefore eighteen to thirty 
hours old before reaching the city. The number of these milk cars 
averages about 35, although varying somewhat with the season. 

Cans. — The milk sold in Boston is shipped in 8^-quart cans, with a 
handle on one side and turned wooden stopples. The quart is, by stat- 
ute, the wine measure quart. 1 No one in the trade to-day can tell why 
this size and shape of cans was originally adopted. The advantages 
claimed for them are: Convenience in handling, convenience in retail- 
ing (as many customers buy one or two cans), convenience to many 
small farmers who can fill only two or three cans per day, convenience 
in transportation (as the cans can be stacked several tiers high), 
cleanliness in retailing where milk is poured from the can, as it is 
sooner emptied than a 40-quart can, and hence the milk is exposed to 
the air and dirt a much less time. 2 

'One quart, wine measure, is 57f cubic inches, or 2 pounds 1$ ounces of water, and 
2 pouuds 2| ounces of milk. 

2 On the other hand, there are serious objections to the Boston can. Five small 
cans cost more than one large one and are more difficult and expensive to clean. 
The danger of loss and damage is increased. But the worst thing about it is the 
wooden stopple. Milk enters the pores of the wood and penetrates so far that no 



10 

For several years in the early history of the business there was in 
use a can containing 8J quarts beer measure/ equal to about 10 quarts 
wine measure; but it gradually dropped out of use, the smaller can 
being more popular. The larger can is yet in use in Providence, E. I., 
but the 8^-quart can, wine measure, is generally used throughout New 
England. The business was formerly done by beer measure, and these 
8 J quart cans, wine measure, hold 7 quarts, beer measure. The agita- 
tion for the change was partly based on the expectation that there 
would be more money for farmers and middlemen by getting 8 J quarts 
into a can that had formerly contained 7 quarts. But consumers were 
not slow to discover that they were getting a smaller quart, and the 
attempt failed to gain the price of 1^ quarts per can by the flat that the 
quart should be smaller. 

A carload of milk is generally considered to be 900 cans, but the 
peculiar shape, with fiat-top wooden stopples, allows of stacking them 
in tiers, so that in an emergency several hundred more cans can be put 
into a car. By filling passageways and other open spaces as many as 
1,200 cans (10,200 quarts), or over 10 tons in weight, can be got into a 
car. Railroad officials consider 10 tons a carload. The nominal load, 
however, is 900 cans (7,650 quarts). 

The accompanying illustrations (Plates II, III) show the general 
shape of the cans and illustrate the method of handling them. These 
engravings present a familiar daily sight at the milk depots when the 
milk trains arrive. 

Historical. — Boston seems to have been the pioneer city of the United 
States in the transportation of milk by railroad. The year 1830 may 
be taken as the commencement in the United States of the railroad 
system — the use of steam applied to locomotives. Soon after this v< e 
find the Boston peddlers reaching out into the country for a milk 
supply. Jason Chamberlain was the first man to bring milk to Boston 
by railroad, and the time of his beginning was April, 1838. He oper- 
ated on the Boston and Worcester Railroad. He sold milk at 25 cents 
per can of 9^ quarts. Mr. Chamberlain sold his business to Rufus 
Whiting, who is said to have been the first to start an express business 
on the Boston and Worcester Railroad. He was an associate with, 
and sold his business to, Mr. Harnden, the now famous express pro- 
moter. This milk came by express, but in a baggage car. The first 
milk car was run soon after, by a company of peddlers, between West- 
boro and Boston. This was followed by the Boston Milk Company, 

cleaning process is efficient. Stopples split have shown penetration for half an inch, 
commonly, and sometimes more, and from these pieces germ cultures have heen made 
of an extremely ohjectionahle and offensive kind, although the stopples had been 
soaked, scalded, and steamed, and were supposed to be clean and harmless. 

H. E. A. 

1 One quart, beer measure, is 70| cubic inches, or 2 pounds 8f ounces of water, and 
2 pounds 10 ounces of milk. 



Bulletin 20, B. A. I. 



Plate II. 




Fig. 1.— Milk i rain at City Terminal, Boston. 




Fig. 2.— Interior of Milk-receiving Sheds, City Terminal. 



Bulletin 20, B. A. 



Plate III 




* " •'. i 




Fig. 1.— Milk Depot of Boston Contractor. 




Fig. 2.— Interior of Milk-contractor-s Depot, Boston. 



11 

which ran a car to Cordaville, and by Eowell & Kelly, who took milk 
from Northboro and Fayville. In April, 1843, the New England 
Farmer said: 

We have learned that one man brings in upon the Worcester Railroad ahout 
200,000 gallons annually. This is supposed to he about one-tenth of all that is sold 
in the city. Two millions of gallons per year is the estimated amount of consump- 
tion in Boston. This, at 20 cents per gallon, costs the citizens $400,000 per year, and, 
supposing the population to he 100,000, this gives to each inhabitant yearly 20 gal- 
lons, or a small fraction less than half a pint per day. The dwellers in the city of 
"notions" have a notion that they pay the fanners a good price for milk. Five or 
6 cents per quart is usually given. This pays the farmers of the immediate vicinity 
as well as they get paid for most of their productions. But can those farmers live 
who sell milk at their doors at 10 cents per gallon in the summer and 12 cents 
in the winter, or at an average of 11 cents? Many such farmers there are, and some 
sell at lower rates than this, and yet the milk dealer gets no more than a fair com- 
pensation for his labors, expenses, and risks. 

An article from the Albany Cultivator, reprinted in the New England 
Farmer September 6, 1843, said: 

A brighter day is dawning on the dwellers in cities so far as milk is concerned, and 
the venders of swill slop, cold water, and artificial milks are finding their business 
seriously endangered. This is being brought about by the influence of railroads, 
which, spreading a network over the country and centering in the cities, bring the 
farmers and dairymen residing within 50 miles of the city within a few hours, and 
enable them to offer their products in the best possible condition for competition. 
This effect was first extensively felt in Boston in the reduction of the price and the 
bettering of the quality of milk, though that city had never been forced to use 
such scandalous stuff as was sold in other places for milk. At the present time a 
large portion of the milk used in that city is received by the railroads from country 
dairymen. The same beneficial effects are beginning to be felt in New York. 

At one time two cars were loaded daily at Westboro, some farmers 
driving 15 miles daily to the railroad station with their supplies. 
Although milk consumption has increased and the milk territory has 
extended wonderfully since then, the shipments from this station have 
decreased. The growth of neighboring towns has caused more milk to 
be used near where it is produced. 

The railroad business above noticed developed on the Boston and 
Worcester Railroad, entering the city on the south side. Meanwhile, 
however, similar enterprises had been undertaken on the north side of 
the city. Peddlers had gone out to Concord, Mass., and other places 
for milk and supplies. 

T. W. Wellington, of Newton, was the first to buy milk in Wilton, 
N. H., for the Boston market. For about a year Mr. Wellington con- 
tinued in the business, taking less than 200 gallons per day in a baggage 
car. Mr. Wellington sold to David L. Pierce, a retail milk dealer in 
Boston, who increased the business so that a special milk car was nec- 
essary. After continuing in the business for three or four years he sold 
to David Whiting, in the spring of 1857. 

Present ivholesale methods. — These early shipments of milk were made 



12 

by peddlers who brought into the city the milk which they needed for 
their retail trade. But as the business increased there happened what 
has taken place in every other industry — specialization. Handling 
milk at wholesale became a distinct business from retailing, and the 
men who brought in railroad milk came in time to devote the whole of 
their energy and capital to buying milk of the farmers, transporting 
it, and selling to retailers. 

Various changes have taken place in the personnel of these firms of 
pioneer peddlers and subsequent wholesalers, but many of the names 
early identified with the business are still in use. Consolidations have 
also taken place, till to-day the business of transporting milk to the city 
by railroad is done by seven concerns. Six of these seven milk whole- 
saling houses have an association for bringing about uniformity in 
methods of doing business and for mutual self protection. Today fully 
three-quarters of the milk supply of the Greater Boston passes through 
the hands of these large wholesalers, locally known as "contractors." 

These contractors furnish the cans for the business and lease the cars 
of the railroads. They furnish men and supplies for the cars. In some 
cases they have loading platforms at shipping stations. At a number 
of convenient points in the country they have ice houses and cut their 
own supply of ice. In the city they have platforms, storehouses, refrig- 
erators, offices, etc., near the railroad tracks; and their cars on reach- 
ing the city are switched onto the side tracks at their business depots. 
The loading and unloading is done by the contractors. 

All of the contractors have cheese or butter factories in the city or 
country, or both, for the manufacture of butter and cheese. 

The milk is bought in the country at a price for the milk delivered at 
the car at the different country railroad stations. In some instances 
each farmer carries his milk to the railroad station; in others the farm- 
ers in one neighborhood or in one locality cooperate in an arrangement 
with one of their number to do the teaming; in yet other instances the 
contractors employ someone to haul milk from the farmers' doors to 
the railroad station, and deduct the expense from the amount due the 
farmers for milk. Milk is frequently drawn 6 miles to a railroad sta- 
tion, and in some cases as far as 10 to 15 miles. 

The wholesalers or contractors. — The various companies and individ- 
uals above alluded to as carrying milk on the Boston and Worcester 
Bailroad, on the south side of the city, consolidated into the firm of 0. 
Brigham & Co. to do a strictly wholesale business. This company 
later became incorporated as The 0. Brigham Company, and is yet in 
the business. 

Mr. David Whiting, who bought the business of Mr. Wellington, as 
noticed above, was a large and successful farmer. Although driven 
into the business to protect his interests, the traits of character which 
brought success in other enterprises made him successful as a milk 
wholesaler. In 1865 he associated with him his sons, George O. and 



13 

Harvey A., under the firm name of D. Whiting & Sons. The business 
is continued to-day under the same Dame, two of Mr. Whiting's grand- 
sons being among the executive officers. 

Mr. H. P. Hood began in the milk business in Boston, as a peddler, in 
1846. For nine years he bought milk of contractors, but in 1855 he 
began running a car on his own account from Derry, UST. H., to which 
place he moved. He has been in the wholesale milk business ever since^ 
and has increased the business from one to eight cars. His sons are 
now associated with him in the management of the business. 

The Boston Dairy Company is the newest of the larger companies; it 
is the consolidation of several interests, and is a continuation of the 
long-established business of Tower & Whitcomb. Mr. W. A. Graustein 
is the executive head. 

The Elm Farm Company was started by a wealthy farmer-m anufacturer, 
Mr. Ray, of Franklin, Mass., as a means of marketing his own milk inde- 
pendent of the regular contractors; but he soon commenced buying 
milk of his farmer neighbors, and the business extended until the com- 
pany confined itself to a wholesale business. 

Mr. J. F. French brings one carload per day into the city, and has 
done so for several years. 

These are the component elements of the contractors' association. 

In addition, one car of milk per day is brought into the city by the 
Deerfoot Farm Company of Southboro, Mass., much of which is -sold 
direct by themselves to the consumers. The Deerfoot Farm Company 
was started by Hon. Edward Burnett to furnish high-grade Jersey milk 
to patrons able and willing to pay a corresponding price, but latterly 
the business has increased so as to include, in addition to the above, a 
general wholesale trade. Mr. Bobert Burnett is the executive manager. 

Mr. George O. Whiting, the executive head of D. Whiting & Sons, 
owns a controlling interest in the C. Brigham Company and in the Elm 
Farm Company. He is a man of much executive energy, and is known 
as "the milk king of Hew England." 

Statistics. — The members of the Milk Contractors' Association report 
monthly to each other their receipts and sales, and have done so for 
years, so that much valuable information has accumulated in connec- 
tion with the business. These figures are not absolutely infallible for 
purposes of comparison, because the association has occasionally taken 
in new members, whose receipts and sales are then added to those of 
the others. But those persons to whom such statistics are serviceable 
can make some allowance for this and find much value in the figures. 






14 

We give below some recent tables on this subject, the figures repre- 
senting the number of 8^-quart cans : 



1896. 

January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

Total 

1897. 

January 

February 

Marcb 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

M" oveniber 

December 

Total 



Tear. 


Receipts. 


Sales. 

| 


Surplus. 


1892 


9, 212, 667 
9, 263, 487 
9, 705, 447 
9, 856, 500 


7, 315, 135 ' 
7,619,722 
7,657,421 
8,040,732 




1893 




1894 


2,048,026 


1895 







844, 709 
808, 383 
873,572 
891, 275 
1, 005, 115 
994, 817 
899, 397 
854, 913 
866, 691 
960, 734 
885, 903 
898, 599 



10, 782, 108 



923, 852 

835, 115 

960, 084 

976, 996 

1, 105, 325 

1, 115, 234 

1, 013, 552 

966, 058 

956, 445 

1, 037, 764 

962, 552 

945, 254 



11, 798, 231 



651, 827 
611, 793 
657, 039 
672, 561 
696, 599 
675, 796 
712, 188 
687, 224 
635, 092 
699, 245 
690, 920 
707, 095 



705, 324 
639, 952 

719, 814 
733, 298 
759, 875 
752, 038 
789, 849 

720, 374 
732, 795 
751, 944 
708, 459 
724, 850 



192, 882 
196, 590 
214, 534 
218,714 
308, 516 
319,021 
187, 209 
167, 689 
231, 599 
261, 489 
194, 983 
191,504 



2, 684, 730 



218, 528 
195, 163 
240, 270 
243, 698 
345, 450 
363, 196 
223, 703 
245, 684 
223, 650 
285, 820 
254, 093 
220, 364 



3, 059, 619 



Milk Producers 1 Union. — Before going on to speak further about the 
prices of milk and some of the detailed methods of handling it which 
are peculiar to Boston, a word should be spoken about the Milk Pro- 
ducers' Union. This is an organization of the farmers who sell milk 
to the contractors. The farmers of the several shipping towns form a 
local organization and send delegates to an annual meeting of the 
central union, which elects executive officers and transacts other neces- 
sary business. The organization has been in existence in one form or 
another since 1886. The work of the union, which has been supple- 
mented by that of the association of wholesalers, who regulate the 
business from their end, has been to promote uniformity and business- 
like methods. The tabulation and publication of the above statistics 
were brought about through the combined efforts of the Milk Producers' 
Union and the Milk Contractors' Association. The prices of milk are 
usually arranged by mutual agreement between the contractors and 
the officers of the Milk Producers' Union. Blanks are sent semi- 
annually to the producers belonging to the union, on which they 
express their opinion as to the price of milk and state the number of 
cans shipped. These replies are averaged on the basis of cans rather 



15 

than individuals; and the negotiations between the contractors and 
the union are based upon this expression of opinion. 

The union has the machinery in its constitution for ordering a strike, 
so to speak, in case of an emergency. Two or three times in the history 
of the union a rupture of this kind has seemed imminent, but it has been 
averted for the best interests of all, usually by mutual concessions, so 
that the farmers have gained directly by having an organization. They 
also feel that they have gained some unfought battles, and believe that 
they have generally been treated better by the contractors, by reason 
of having an association, than they would have been if the contractors 
were dealing with individuals, or simply issued an ultimatum of what 
they would pay for milk without their authority being questioned. At 
times some farmers have been dissatisfied with the work of the union 
because it was not more radical and sweeping, but in the main the more 
conservative farmers feel that it has been of great service to them. The 
existence of such an organization has tended to promote uniformity 
in prices, and there has been little variation in prices for a number of 
years. 

Prices paid. — As milk is shipped from stations of varying distances 
from the city, the following arrangement has been made as a convenient 
method for determining a price for each station. It has been agreed 
between the contractors and the Milk Producers' Union that all nego- 
tiations should be for a theoretical Boston price per can, and that there 
should be the following discounts from that price: 

Cents. 

For stations between 17 and 23 miles from Boston 8 

For stations between 23 and 36 miles from Boston 9 

For stations between 36 and 56 miles from Boston 10 

For stations between 56 and 76 miles from Boston 11 

And 1 cent more for each additional 20 miles. 

The price is adjusted twice a year for the six months beginning April 
1 and October 1. The theoretical Boston price per can of S£ quarts for 
a number of years has been as follows : 





Tear. 


Summer. 


Winter. 


1886 


Cents. 
30 
30 
32 
32 
32 
33 
33 


Cents. 
36 
36 


1887 


1888 


38 


1889 


38 | 


1890 


30 


1891 


37 


1892 


37 







Tear. 



1893 

1894 

1895 

1896 

1897 

Average (12 years) 32; 



Su7umer. 


Winter. 


Cents. 


Cents. 


33 


37 


33 


37 


33 


37 


33 


35 


33 


35 



In 1S74-75 the winter price per can was 40 cents, the summer price 
32 cents ; difference, 8 cents. For several of the years included in the 
above table there was a difference of 6 cents between the summer and 
the winter prices. In 1890 and 1891 the summer price advanced and 
the winter price declined, and for four years thereafter there was a dif- 
ference of 4 cents per can between summer and winter milk. In Octo- 



16 

ber, 1896, the winter price was cut again, leaving the difference only 2 
cents. The increasing attention given to winter dairying has brought 
the supply of winter milk nearer to that of summer milk, and made 
advisable, so the contractors claim, less disparity in price. 

The increase of winter dairying has been caused not only by the 
increased profit in winter milk, but to a certain extent, in market gar- 
dening sections, by the desire of farmers who produce milk to carry 
more cows in the winter in order to get manure for their garden crops. 

Payments to the farmers for milk sold to the contractors are made 
monthly, as soon after the 1st of the month as the clerical work of 
closing the accounts and drawing checks can be done. 

According to the agreement alluded to, the payment per can of milk 
which the farmer would receive at his railroad station would be the 
theoretical Boston price less 8, 9, 10, or 11 cents, depending upon his 
distance from the city. The amount of milk handled by the contractors 
is so large that these prices govern to a considerable extent the deal- 
ings of many milkmen in other places. 

When this arrangement was first considered, it was expected that the 
theoretical Boston price would be the figure at which milk would be 
sold to the peddlers, and that the discount would therefore represent 
cost of transportation, cost of doing the business, losses from bad bills, 
and profits ; but competition of one kind and another has reduced the 
price to the peddlers so that they now pay 3 and 4 cents less than the 
nominal Boston price, and it has become wholly a theoretical figure, 
used and useful only as a number from which to subtract the various 
discounts depending upon distance of transportation. The expenses 
of doing the business and the profits to the contractors are therefore 
from 4 to 7 cents per can. 

Milk was sold by the contractors to peddlers during the summer of 
1897 at 30 cents per can, with rumors of cutting prices to 29 and even 
28 cents. Milk is sold by the j>eddlers at varying prices. Hotels and 
large restaurants buy close and allow only 2 or 3 cents for handling; 
they bought during 1897 at 32 to 35 cents per can. Small stores, which 
retail by the quart the contents of only a few cans, pay 38 to 40 cents 
per can. Consumers of a can daily pay 45 and 50 cents, and those 
who have a quart of milk delivered at their houses daily by the milk- 
man pay 7 cents per quart. Sometimes pint customers pay at the 
rate of 8 cents per quart. By going to the store for it, consumers fre- 
quently buy as low as 6 cents, and in some instances for 5. Milk in a 
few cases seems to be selected by grocers and provision dealers as an 
article to sell at cost or a little less as a bid for other business. 

Grading the price. — One of the peculiarities of the way in which the 
Boston milk business is carried on by the contractors is what is called 
"grading the price." To illustrate: The contractors agree to pay at 
stations situated a certain distance from Boston 24 cents per can for 
the summer — that is, from April to October, But they do not pay 24 



17 

cents for each and every mouth ; instead of that, they pay a price which 
will average 24 cents. During the flush months of May and June the 
price may be perhaps 22 cents, and to offset that cut the price will be 
increased to 2G cents during the sultry months of August and Septem- 
ber, when milk is sometimes scarce. This "grading" has a tendency 
to discourage exceptionally large shipments during months when the 
supply would naturally be the largest. It also stimulates production 
during the months when the supply might otherwise be short. When 
the price has been agreed upon, the contractors send to each station a 
card similar to the following : 

(For railroad stations in the towns of Chelmsford and Sudbury, summer of 1897.) 

The graded price of milk per can of eight and one-half quarts, delivered in good 
order, with dairy number plainly marked on stopper with stickers, and up to the 
standard required by law, in the car, for the following sis months, from April 1, 
1897, will be : 

Cents. 



Cents. 

April 24 

May 22 

June 22 



July 24 

August 26 

September 26 



Average, 24 cents. 

In case the amount of milk received by the contractors and not sold for use as 
milk shall exceed 5 per cent of the entire sales of the month, then for said excess 
over and above the 5 per cent the contractors shall pay only what said excess is 
worth for butter, taking the average price of butter for the month; and the value 
of the siirplus milk, manufactured into butter, shall be determined by a committee of 
farmers and contractors. 

MILK CAJSTS. 

Milk cans are the property of the persons or company whose name is stamped 
upon them. The ownership is absolute. The legislature has passed a law which 
makes it a crimiual offense, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to retain or make 
use of a milk can for any purpose whatever without the consent of the contractor 
or owner. (See chapter 440, Acts of 1893.) 

Contractors' surplus milk. — As stated above, the contractors and the 
Producers' Union agree upon a price for six months in advance. In 
doing this the purchasing contractors seem to be taking some chances, 
for they can not foresee the demand. Particularly is this the case in the 
summer, for then the demand depends much on the weather, as a hot, 
sultry "spell" causes the consumption of milk to increase rapidly. 
Further than this, the contractors appear to take large chances in 
another way. They agree to take all the milk that the farmers supply- 
ing them with milk at the various shipping stations may produce. 
This leads to receipts largely in excess of the demand, as has been seen 
by the preceding tables of receipts and sales: the excess sometimes 
reaches one-fourth of the receipts. The contractors save themselves 
from loss by an arrangement by which the stipulated price is paid for 
only such milk as is sold again and for a small margin in excess (equal 
to 5 per cent of the sales; see above card). All surplus beyond this is 
made into butter by the contractors, at their creameries, on the farmers' 
14777— No. 20 2 



account, allowing each month, as the value of the butter, the average 
of the jobbing price of butter quoted by the chamber of commerce dur- 
ing the month and charging 4 cents per pound for making. Thus the 
farmer is sure of getting at least butter value for all the milk he can 
make. To protect the farmers from an undue extension of this surplus 
privilege, the contractors agree not to extend their routes or enlarge 
their territory. The advantages of this surplus system are : 

(1) The market is more steady than it would otherwise be. The fig- 
ures above show that the price has been very uniform for many years. 
The surplus, beiug in the hands of the large dealers, does not get upon 
the market, and the supply offered to the retail trade by the contractors 
is never in excess of the demand. 

(2) The contractors have a large reservoir to draw from when sultry 
summer weather or other cause increases the demand; hence the market 
is never short of milk. 

(3) The farmers find a market for more milk than they otherwise 
would, though the surplus portion is sold at much less than the other 
part. The butter value of the surplus milk for the year 1896, less the 
cost of making, was 13 cents per can, a fraction over 71 cents per hun- 
dred pounds. For 1897 the butter value of a can of milk averaged 13£ 
cents, a little better than for 1896. 

The disadvantage of the system is that it is the cause of much fric- 
tion between the producers and the contractors. The surplus offers a 
good opportunity to increase the farmers' natural suspicion of the con- 
tractors. The application of the system is blind to many farmers, some 
of whom even question the honesty of the contractors in accounting for 
the amount of the surplus. This difference is further intensified by 
the method of settling with the farmers. The contractors, for their 
convenience, ascertain how much of a discount the butter value of the 
surplus would create on the whole amount of milk which a farmer ships, 
and in making their payment they deduct this amount from what 
would be due if all milk shipped had been sold at the long price. 
Hence the monthly bills are not written for the proportionate amount 
of sale milk at, for instance, 20 cents, plus the proportionate amount of 
surplus milk at, for instance, 13 cents; but, it having been found that 
the amount of surplus milk and its butter value is enough to reduce 
the average price of milk at a 20-cent station 1£ cents, when the farmer 
makes out his bill for his full shipment at 20 cents per can the con- 
tractors discount the bill 1J cents per can and remit the balance. 

The surplus for May, 1897 — the butter value of milk being 11 cents 
per can — amounted to an average discount per can on all shipments as 
follows : 

Cents. 

Where price was 19 cents 2. 26 

Where price was 20 cents , 2.54 

Where price was 21 cents 2. 82 

Where price Avas 22 cents 3. 11 

Where price was 23 cents 3. 39 



19 

In this way the contractors' clerks can figure the accounts quite 
rapidly ; bat the method increases the dissatisfaction with the system, 
because to the mind of the farmer the butter value of surplus milk cre- 
ates an actual discount or a " charge back" on the whole of his bill. 

This system of buying all the milk that is offered furnishes shippers 
a market for all they can produce, but this in turn tends to increase 
the surplus, which reached unusual proportions during the years 1S9G 
and 1897. This, coupled with the low price of butter, made the dis- 
count for those years more than twice what it had previously been. 
The records of milk meetings and farmers' gatherings show that the 
surplus is the great cause of dissatisfaction, the burden of many reso- 
lutions and speeches being that the contractors should buy " straight." 
The contractors have sometimes agreed to take all chances of surplus 
and pay a straight price if they could buy for 2 cents less. Before this 
system was introduced there was much complaint at the irregularity 
of the amount sold to the contractors. If the supply ran ahead of the 
demand, the farmers would receive notice to keep back part of their 
supplies; and they were liable to be obliged to make butter or cheese 
in varying quantities every few days. This was a great inconvenience 
and caused much grumbling, which was remedied by the contractors 
adopting the present plan, taking all produced and paying butter price 
for the surplus. But that was so many years ago that the improvement 
is not generally remembered. The feeling against the surplus was so 
strong in 1889 that the matter was referred to the State board of arbi- 
tration, which decided that the principle was a sound one. 

It should be stated here that the different wholesale firms report 
their receipts, sales, and surplus to their organization and to the Milk- 
Producers' Union, and the discount is figured on the totals, being the 
same to all farmers at equal distances from the city, regardless of the 
contractors to whom they sell or the amount of surplus which their 
individual wholesaler may have had. 

Retailing. — On the arrival of the milk cars in Boston they are run 
onto the railroad sidings of the milk contractors from 9 to 11 o'clock 
a. m., regardless of the distance the cars have come. The peddlers by 
this time have finished their morning's distribution of milk and their 
wagons are backed to the contractors' platforms and sheds for the next 
day's supply. The cans are quickly transferred from the cars to the 
peddlers' wagons. In a few cases, where there are customers for several 
cans, a delivery is made at once, but most of this milk is carried to the 
different peddlers' headquarters. Here the milk is run through a large 
mixer, so as to insure uniform quality. Then it is drawn off into quart 
and pint cans, of tin, and placed on ice. The next morning about 2 
o'clock the peddler starts out to deliver this milk to the customer, leav- 
ing at the door of tenement, flat, and dwelling house the can of milk, 
usually before the family is out of bed. By this it will be seen that the 
milk is in the city about eighteen hours before reaching the consumer. 



20 

It will also be noticed that the milk is delivered in individual cans, 
never poured or dipped from the large can to the consumer's dish. 
According to the milk inspector of the municipality of Boston, the 
number of persons selling milk from wagons during 1896 was 598, and 
the number of shopkeepers who sold milk was 1,019. In Cambridge 
there were 189 peddlers and 111 store milk dealers. The numbers 
remained practically the same in 1897. Nearly all of the peddlers 
use wagons of the same style — the body like an express wagon, with a 
rounded canopy top, open at the front and rear. 

Clean cans. — When the retailers go to the wholesalers' depots for 
their daily supplies they usually take with them return cans, belonging 
to the wholesalers, in which they have taken their supplies on a pre- 
vious day. These cans are immediately rushed on board the cars, so 
that the latter may be ready with as little delay as rjossible to be drawn 
out and made up in the trains for returning. On account of this pro- 
cedure the cans are returned to the farmers unwashed, and sometimes 
in a very filthy condition, for a can may have been delivered by the 
peddler to a grocer where a portion of tbe contents which was unsold has 
soured and stuck to the bottom and sides of the can before the peddler 
calls for it to return to the wholesaler; in exceptional cases the can 
may have been used for other articles, possibly kerosene oil. The 
farmers have frequently consulted together as to the best means of 
bringing some pressure to bear on the contractors to compel them to 
return clean cans. This feeling has gone so far as to result in several 
attempts to induce the legislature to pass compulsory laws on the 
subject. 

The contractors make two excuses for this way of doing business. 
The first is the matter of expense; they claim that to have the cans 
washed before returning would mean the impossibility of getting them 
onto the car that day, and the necessity of having a large investment 
of money tied up in a triplicate set of cans. The second excuse is 
that even if they washed the cans, after having been tightly bunged up 
in the car and on the road for several hours, they would be unfit for use 
in reshipping milk without being scalded. The contractors claim that 
if the cans are sent into the country clean many farmers will neglect 
this precaution, and that the next day's milk would reach the city in 
worse condition than when the cans are carefully cleaned, scalded, and 
aired at the dairy before putting fresh milk into them. 

Methods of producers and shippers. — The methods pursued by the milk- 
producing farmers who supply the contractors may be described more 
in detail, as follows: 

For example, a neighborhood may be taken in Windsor or Windham 
County, Vt., from which the milk is hauled by wagon to Bellows Falls 
and there put on the milk car. 

The process by which the milk is prepared for marketing is simple, 
though it requires care and attention to preserve an equal temperature. 



21 

The morning's milk is cooled by various methods, some employing ice, 
while not a few suspend the cans in a well. When the night's milk has 
been cooled, a wood stopper is placed in the full can, upon which is 
pasted a small adhesive stamp a trifle smaller than a postage stamp, 
and on this is printed the number of the dairy, as well as the number 
of the car conveying the milk from Bellows Falls to Boston. 

As a rule neighboring dairymen have an arrangement by which one 
of their number takes the daily product to the main highway, where 
the cans are picked up every night by the milk wagon and the " emp- 
ties" returned by the same conveyance in the morning. In some cases, 
however, the farmer lives 3 or 4 miles oif the route, and of course is 
obliged to bring his own milk. 

One route starts from Chester, Windsor County, the distance from 
the driver's house to Bellows Falls being 16 miles. This driver receives 
3 cents per can of 8i quarts (or 18£ pounds) for carting, and this is, of 
course, paid by the farmer. With a four-horse covered wagon, this 
collector starts from his home every night in the week at 9 o'clock, 
going by the most direct road to Bockingham, thence to Bellows Falls. 
At present this route furnishes 180 cans, which are picked up in differ- 
ent places along the highway to Bartonville. It takes about six hours 
to make the trip, which could be done in considerably less time but for 
the work of picking up the cans. The route is not particularly pleasant 
by night, and especially is this true in stormy weather, yet for the 365 
nights in the year this driver faithfully perforins his duty, whether in 
storm or starlight. The trip is not infrequently attended with disa- 
greeable and even dangerous features, as was the case during the floods 
oi 1897, when the highway was washed out in several places, necessi- 
tating a roundabout trip of several miles through Saxtons River. But 
the milk was delivered every morning at the car before the time of 
leaving Bellows Falls for Boston. 

On arriving at the car the milk is weighed by those in charge and 
the weights credited to the numbers representing the respective dairy- 
men. The milk car starts daily at 5.30 a. m. and reaches Boston about 
four hours later, and twenty-eight or twenty-nine hours after the morn- 
ing milking of the day before. Since the establishment of this route, 
in the year 1890, the business gradually increased until June, 1897, 
when the shipments amounted to nearly 700 cans a day. 

Boston system summed up. — The advantage of this system of handling 
milk by large wholesalers, combined into an association, is that the 
business is in the hands of solvent parties, who can be relied upon to 
pay the farmers promptly the money due them; the business is done in 
a uniform, methodical way, all producers being treated alike; there is 
more publicity to the business than there would be if the milk were 
sold to a great many small, isolated peddlers. The existing Boston 
system maintains a more steady market than would otherwise be possi- 
ble, by keeping off from it an undue surplus which would break the 



22 



price; consequently this arrangement insures better prices to farmers 
than they would otherwise get. Another advantage is in the fact that 
this large combination of wholesalers doing business in a systematic 
way, with regular chemists, etc., is a powerful factor in elevating the 
quality of milk on the market and helping to bring it up to a satisfac- 
tory standard. With good laws to start with, to which reference will 
be made further on, and a strong financial interest working to sustain 
these laws, a great deal is done for the quality of milk. - 

There are disadvantages connected with the Boston system, some of 
which have been sufficiently described. Another is that it does not 
stimulate any advance in quality of milk beyond meeting the standard 
required by law. 

Other milk supply. — It has already been stated that the milk brought 
into the city by the contractors is about three quarters of the whole sup- 
ply. A portion of the other one-fourth comes in by railroad, brought 
by peddlers who go into the country and buy direct from the farmers. 
These peddlers usually buy on the basis of the contractors' prices, for 
these prices set the pace for about all of the milk business, and, to a 
large extent, govern it. But these peddlers buy only what their ordi- 
nary trade will take. If they occasionally need extra milk they can buy 
it of the contractors. Though these peddlers pay no more than the 
regular price, the farmer gets the full price for all that he sells, because 
the peddler whom he supplies never has a surplus for which to pay a 
lower price. On the other. hand, the more of such business there is the 
more the surplus tends to increase in the hands of the contractors. 
Their burdensome surplus is a convenience in a pinch to the outside 
peddler, who competes with them for milk and for customers, but who 
carries none of the inconvenience of a surplus. 

Another portion of the milk of the Greater Boston is produced 
within its limits. This is not much of a factor in the city proper, but 
the geographical and business reasons which lead to the grouping of 
several municipalities as the Greater Boston necessarily include a few 
places which produce nearly all of their local milk supply. In one or two 
instances — Milton especially — the place supplies milk to some of its 
neighbors. Over 7,000 cows are kept in the Greater Boston, located as 
follows : 



Boston 850 

Chelsea 87 

Kevere 168 

Winthrop 83 

Quincy 656 

Milton 804 

"Winchester 240 

Wolmrn 362 

Watertown * 28 1 

Waltham 882 



Maiden 169 

Medford 282 

Melrose 214 

Newton 1,212 



Somerville 
Stoneham . 
Arlington . 
Belmont . . 

Saugus 

Lynn 



314 
311 
236 
173 
544 
342 



A third source of supply of outside milk is from territory contiguous 
to the Greater Boston, which can be reached by a drive of 10 to 15 



23 

miles. This region is quite thickly settled, and consumes considerable 
milk, yet it also produces much milk to sell in Boston, which is brought 
in by wagons. The inspector of the city of Boston reports 5,232 cans 
sold daily in his jurisdiction, aside from the railroad milk. The milk 
in other cities and towns of the Greater Boston not brought by rail 
must be 5,000 cans more. Two of the largest towns for milk shipments 
by team are Dedham and Bedford, from each of which nearly 1,000 
cans are daily hauled. 

This nearby milk, although only about one- fourth of the city supply, 
has shown a tendency to increase of late; its competition with railroad 
milk was unusually severe during the last few months of 1897. This 
has been because milk has been maintained at such an even price, 
because there has been an unusual disparity between the sale-milk 
value and the butter value of the product, and because prices of other 
farm products were so depressed that milk was relatively the most 
profitable farm product, in very many cases. 

PROVIDENCE. 

Providence, the second in size of the New England cities, has an 
estimated population of 150,000. The best estimates obtainable place 
the milk consumption at 75,000 quarts per day. This amounts to 
27,375,000 quarts per year. This milk is sold from 407 peddlers' wagons 
and 900 stores, restaurants, bakeries, etc. Nearly all of the milk is 
produced within 20 miles of the city. Most of the milk that is brought 
in wagons comes an average distance of 12 miles, though a little comes 
20 miles each day. The balance is carried by railroad. One car brings 
in 9,500 quarts per day. This car starts from Willimantic, Conn., a 
distance of 60 miles. About 4,000 quarts per day are carried on the 
other railroads in express and baggage cars. The milk is shipped, for 
the most part, in cans similar in general style to the Boston milk can, 
but containing 9^ and 10£ quarts. 

The selling of milk from stores is more prevalent than in many other 
cities of New England. It is estimated that almost half of the milk 
consumed in this city is sold from stores instead of being delivered 
from house to house by peddlers. Most of the railroad milk goes 
directly to stores. 

The price of milk for the last few years has been quite uniform, con- 
sumers paying usually a cent less in the summer than in the winter. 
The retail summer price ranges from 5 to 7 cents and the winter price 
from G to 8 cents. The wholesale price per can in the summer is at the 
rate of 15 or 16 cents per gallon, and 19 or 20 cents per gallon in the 
winter. About one-third of the nearby milk is sold by the producers 
themselves, who drive into the city every morning with their supplies, 
retailing from house to house. About two-thirds of the nearby milk is 
sold by peddlers who buy milk from the farmers. Some of them buy 
from middlemen, who pick up milk from the farmers and haul it to the 
city. In these cases the peddlers do not see or know the men who 



24 

produce the milk for them. These middlemen, however, differ from 
those in Boston in that they occupy a much less conspicuous place in 
the business than the Boston contractors and are hardly more than 
agents and teamsters for the city peddlers. 

The producers receive 11 to 12 cents per gallon for milk in the sum- 
mer, and 15 or 16 cents in the winter. 

The population of Providence has increased from 120,000, in 1886, to 
150,000 in 1896, or 25 per cent; but the consumption of milk appears to 
have increased about 122 per cent, only 33,700 quarts per day being 
reported in 1886. These figures show that there has been greatly 
increased consumption of milk per capita during the last few years. 

Milk is from twelve to forty-eight hours old when it reaches the 
consumers in Providence. 

OTHER CITIES. 

The reports from the other New England cities are, for the most part, 
without novel features. To go into the details about each city would be 
mere repetition, to a large extent. The milk generally is brought into 
the city early in the morning by retailers who are, for the most part, pro- 
ducers. In some instances peddlers buy the supplies of farmers and act 
only as middlemen. In other cases the farmer supplements his own 
supply by buying from his neighbors. The milk is mostly produced 
within a dozen or fifteen miles of the city where it is consumed. The 
night's milk is not over 12 hours old when it reaches the consumers; 
the morning's milk not over 6. Consequently less pains are taken in 
cooling and caring for the milk than when it becomes 48 to 72 hours old 
before reaching the consumer. Six cents per quart is the average price 
to consumers. In some cities the price drops to 5 cents in the summer, 
and in a few instances 7 cents is reached in the winter. 

The usual method of distributing milk is by pouring from the 8^-quart 
cans into the individual cans, pitchers, or bowls of customers at their 
doors, although some peddlers carry individual cans. The use of glass 
bottles is comparatively rare, though increasing. In many cities 
the old-fashioned wagons are giving way to vehicles built low-down 
expressly for the milk business. In many cases farmers who sell milk 
pay some attention to vegetables and small fruits, which utilizes help, 
insures an advantageous rotation of tillage, helps out the supply of 
manure, and assures a retail market for eggs, fruit, or vegetables. 

Worcester, Mass., has a population of 110,000 at present, and annu- 
ally consumes 2,076,000 cans, which is sold from 650 wagons and stores. 
It is retailed for the most part at 6 cents per quart, summer and winter. 
In the city and suburbs are a number of superior Jersey and Guernsey 
herds, for whose milk better prices are obtained. Worcester has a very 
efficient milk dealers and producers' association, which does much to 
promote uniformity in price and to keep up the quality. Many of the 
Worcester milkmen are market gardeners, who combine the two kinds 
of farming to advantage. 



25 

Most of the Lowell, Mass., daily supply of 3,511 cans comes directly 
from the farmers within a few miles of the city*. But a Boston milk 
train passes through the city, and at times a little railroad milk is left. 
Milk retails for the most part for 5 cents per quart in the summer and 
6 cents in the winter. One hundred and seventy-six milk dealers' 
licenses are issued in this city. The population is 84,000. 

Burlington, Vt., uses about 365,000 gallons annually, which is sold by 
about 140 peddlers, many of whom are producers. The population in 
1890 was 15,000, but it is estimated now at about 20,000. The per cap- 
ita consumption of milk has increased materially during the past ten 
years. The trade has nearly doubled, while the increase in population 
is about one-third. Prices at retail range from 4 to 6 cents in the sum- 
mer, and from 5 to 7 cents in the winter. 

Augusta, Me., with a population of 12,000, uses 1,600 to 2,000 quarts 
of milk daily, mostly retailed at a uniform price of 6 cents the year 
around. The farmers who produce the milk for the most part retail it. 

Portland, Me., uses the milk of about 4,000 cows, which amounts to 
about 2,250,000 gallons a year. Some of this milk is sent in by railroad 
in baggage and express cars. This is retailed by peddlers, who are 
mostly middlemen. The milkmen supplying the Portland market have 
an organization. 

New Bedford, Mass., has 151 licensed dealers retailing 24,000 or 
25,000 quarts per day ; the retail prices are mostly 6 and 7 cents. Pro- 
ducers largely retail their own supplies. 

Taunton, Mass., has 24 licensed dealers and uses about 12,000 quarts 
per day. The retail price is 6 cents summer and winter. 

Hartford, Conn., licenses 152 regular retail dealers. An average of 
26,000 quarts is sold daily. All is produced within 10 miles of the city. 

THE CREAM TRADE. 

The cream trade has increased rapidly in Boston, Providence, and 
other cities during the past few years. Formerly there was a small 
supply and limited demand. The business was not pushed. A person 
who wanted cream could in most cases be supplied by his milkman, and 
the large Boston contractors did quite a cream trade. Still, cream was 
generally looked upon as a special luxury. The increasing use of the 
separator helped to develop the business, making it more easy than 
ever before to secure sweet cream of good keeping qualities. 

The great increase in the cream business, however, has been due to 
the systematic business-like push and enterprise of a few Maine cream- 
eries. This business began in the latter part of the eighties. The cream 
is sent in 6-gallon cans, packed in ice, by express on fast trains, reach- 
ing Boston about 6 o'clock in the morning. It is there received by 
agents of the proprietors, put into half pint, pint, and quart glass jars, 
and delivered at once. It is not only delivered direct to families, but 
is a common and staple article of merchandise in the grocery stores in 



26 

Boston, Providence, and other portions of southeastern New England. 
Many stores which took experimentally only one or two cans to begin 
with, found their trade rapidly increased, as the public quickly "caught 
on " to the possibility of getting cream of reliable quality and good con- 
dition for keeping. 

This cream is of uniform quality, heavy and rich, being about 45 per 
cent butter fat, is put up in attractive and convenient form, and keeps 
well. This has stimulated a growing demand. 

Such signs as " Bangor cream," " Hampden cream," " Wallingford 
cream," are now a frequent and familiar sight in a majority of grocery 
and provision stores. The cream is retailed in Boston at 60 cents per 
quart. 

One establishment shipping cream from Maine makes the following 
report of its business for the last three years, showing the increase in 
the use of cream. The figures are for gallons: 

Thick cream, 47 per cent butter fat. 



Boston and vicinity 33, 46G 

Beverly, Lynn, and Salem j 8, 033 

Places outside of Massachusetts 1, 531 



40,141 43,542 
8,811 j 9,432 
1,476 1,502 



Total 43,030 50,428 



54, 476 



First 

six 

months 

of 1897. 



28, 034 
4, 333 
1,564 



33,931 



Thin cream, IS per cent butter fat. 





1894. 


1895. 


1896. 


First 

six 

months 

of 1897. 




667 


6,645 
702 


12, 618 
1,969 


4,925 




914 








Total 


667 


7,347 


14, 587 


5,839 







Other Maine creameries are also making large shipments. Faster 
railroad trains are said to be necessary to still further develop this 
cream trade. The creameries are mostly proprietary, buying milk of 
the farmers. As a rule there are no particular feeding materials to 
which objections are raised to the farmers using, but much pains are 
taken to impress the great importance of cleanliness in every detail of 
the business. 

SKIM MILK. 

The skim milk problem is of considerable importance in the city of 
Boston. As we have shown above, a great deal of the surplus milk 
is made into butter after it reaches the city. Consequently, there is a 
supply of skim milk more than usual in such a center. A great deal of 
this is allowed to run into the sewers, as there is no market for it 5 some 
is sold, and some is returned to the farmers, but the greater part is 



27 

thrown away. This is a great loss of food material, and if the people 
of the city could realize the food value of skim milk, and could buy it 
at a reasonable price, much good would result. But as ordinarily sold, 
a quart of skim milk too often replaces a quart of whole milk, and 
thus to that extent injures the sale of whole milk. Further than that, 
skim milk is to quite an extent used to adulterate whole milk; just 
how much no one can say. When milk is adulterated with water, the 
amount of solids not fat is reduced in the same proportion as the fat, 
and the abnormally low amount of solids not fat is. evidence of the 
work of adulteration. But when the adulterant used is skim milk, the 
solids not fat remain the normal amount; consequently, the adultera- 
tion is more difficult to detect; hence, more dangerous. 

In the other cities there is something- of a sale of skim milk, but it is 
much less, that in Lowell, for instance, amounting to 2,227 quarts per 
day. The most of this skim milk sold out of Boston is sold honestly as 
a valuable food product. 

The use of buttermilk is not so extensive as it ought to be, and yet 
in some cities considerable goes into consumption. In Lowell some- 
thing like 850 quarts per day are sold. In Worcester the product of 
one or two creameries is retailed each day. But speaking in a general 
way, the sale of buttermilk is quite small. 

CONDENSED MILK. 

The use of condensed milk is increasing, especially in Boston. A 
large city collects many people who are compelled to keep house in 
restricted quarters; in not a few instances shop and office girls practice 
light housekeeping in a single room. In these and other cases the can 
of condensed milk is a convenient article. New England has six con- 
densed-milk factories, and the product from the West and even from 
abroad is also sold in the grocery and provision stores. 

MILK CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA. 

The consumption of milk per capita is a very difficult thing to get at, 
and statistics on this point must necessarily be more or less faulty. An 
effort has been made to gain information on this subject and a careful 
investigation of the quantity of milk sold in a number of cities has 
been made, and the amount ascertained has been divided by the popu- 
lation. The result is remarkably uniform, as follows (the figures indi- 
cate hundredths of a quart used daily per capita of population) : 



Boston 48 

Lowell 33 

Hartford 47 

Nashua 42 



Haverhill 45 

Burlington 50 

Worcester 44 



Nashua 41 

Lawrence 40 

Pittsfield 30 



In all of these cases it must be remembered that an element of uncer- 
tainty exists in the degree of accuracy in the reports cf the amount of 
milk sold with which we have been furnished, but the results are so 



28 

uniform that it is hardly fair to suppose that an equal error could have 
been made in every case. Therefore it seems reasonable to assume, in 
a general way, that the consumption of milk in Massachusetts cities is 
a little less than a pint per person per day — a little over four-tenths of a 
quart. In no case does this include the sales of skim milk, condensed 
milk, or cream. 

MILK LAWS AND INSPECTION. 

LEGAL STANDARD AND ADULTERATION. 

All of the New England States have laws prohibiting the sale of 
adulterated or watered milk, or milk from which a portion of the cream 
has been removed. All of the States except Connecticut have a statute 
standard for milk. 

Massachusetts prohibits the sale of milk " not of standard quality," 
as well as of adulterated milk, and the following statute defines standard 
milk : 

If the milk is shown upon analysis to contain less than thirteen per cent of milk 
solids, or to contain less than nine and three-tenths per cent of milk solids exclusive 
of fat, it shall he deemed for the purposes of this act to be not of good standard 
quality, except during the months of April, May, June, July, and August, when milk 
containing less than twelve per cent of milk solids, or less than nine per cent of milk 
solids exclusive of fat, or less than three per cent of fat, shall be deemed to be not 
of good standard quality. 

Nearly all of the cases entered in court for the violation of these milk 
laws complain of the offender for selling, or having in his possession or 
custody with intent to sell, "milk not of standard quality," instead of 
"adulterated or watered milk." 

The Rhode Island law provides that — 

If the milk shall be shown upon analysis to contain more than eighty-eight per 
centum of watery fluids, or to contain less than twelve per centum of milk solids, 
or less than two and one-half per centum of milk fats, it shall be deemed for the 
purpose of said sections to be adulterated. 

The New Hampshire law says that if milk has less that 13 per cent 
of milk solids said fact " shall be prima facie evidence" that the milk 
is adulterated. But evidence that milk has less than 13 per cent solids 
is frequently rebutted by producing or offering to produce some cow 
which gives milk of less than 13 per cent solids,, and therefore the 
whole law is nullified. 

In Maine, "when milk shall be found to contain over 88 per cent of 
water it shall be deemed prima facie evidence that said milk has been 
watered, and when milk by the analysis aforesaid shall be found to 
contain less than 12 per cent of solids and less than 3 per cent of fat it 
shall be deemed, prima facie, milk from which cream has been taken." 
This is similar to the New Hampshire law, but we have heard no com- 
plaints from Maine over the words " prima facie." 

Vermont, like Massachusetts, prohibits the sale of milk "not of good 
standard quality," as well as adulterated milk, milk from which a por- 



29 



tion of the cream has been removed, etc. 
standard milk as follows : 



The Vermont statute defines 



Standard milk shall contain not less than twelve and one-half per cent of solids, 
or not less than nine and one-fourth of total solids exclusive of fat, except in the 
months of May and June, when it shall contain not less than twelve per cent of 
total solids. 

The laws of the several States also have regulations for promoting 
honesty in sales of skim milk, such as labeling cans, etc. 
Wine measure is by law the standard measure. 

OFFICIAL INSPECTION. 

All of the States except Vermont and Connecticut have special laws 
providing for the enforcement of these milk regulations. 

In Massachusetts, cities are required and towns are allowed to 
appoint milk inspectors. In Boston the present milk inspector is a 
man of ability and energy. He has a respectable salary and sufficient 
appropriation for collectors of samples, laboratory, etc. Hence the work 
of milk inspection in that city is very efficiently performed. The follow- 
ing statistics of his work show how thorough it is, and also, inferen- 
tial^, something of the quality of the Boston supply, the ratio of 
samples taken to court cases being very small. 



Tear. 


Samples 
taken. 


Cases in 
court. 


Tear. 


Samples 
taken. 


Cases in 
court. 


1886 


8, 701 
9,484 
13, 853 


88 
67 
220 


1893 


13, 623 
12, 587 
12, 295 


293 


1888 


1895 




1890 


1897 


129 









In a number of other Massachusetts cities — Lowell, for instance — good 
work is also done; but in most cases the salary is nominal and the work 
corresponds, though most of the inspectors earn more than they get. 
Very few of the towns avail themselves of the permission to appoint 
inspectors. To cover the field where local inspection is weak, the State 
board of health and the State dairy bureau are also given authority 
to enforce the dairy laws. The following statistics show the work of 
the board of health, scattered over the State: 



Tear. 


Samples 

taken. 


Court 
cases. 


Tear. 


Samples 
taken. 


Court 
cases. 


1890 


3,236 

2,726 
3,271 


24 
49 
72 


1893 


3, 073 
3,551 
6,104 


67 


1891 


1894 .. 


76 
48 


1892 


1897 









Convictions followed in about 90 per cent of the cases. 

Rhode Island has a law similar to Massachusetts as regards local 
milk inspectors. New Hampshire law permits the appointment of such 
officers. In Maine, cities and towns of not less than 3,000 inhabitants 
must appoint milk inspectors. In most cases, however, in all of these 



30 

States there is little inspection and in many cases no inspector. Par- 
ticular mention should be made of the good work in Providence, P. I., 
Nashua, N. H., and Hartford, Conn. The inspector of the latter city 
is appointed under the pro visions of a city ordinance. 

The regulations in the different States as to the duties and authorities 
of milk inspectors are similar. The inspectors and collectors of sam- 
ples employed by them are authorized to enter all places where milk is 
stored or kept for sale and all carriages used for the conveyance of 
milk and take samples for analysis from all such places or carriages. 

The laws of the different States where there are milk inspectors pro- 
vide for registering and licensing milk dealers for a nominal fee. This 
is done for the purpose of securing proper identification of the dealer. 

The legal supervision hitherto noticed has related almost entirely to 
the commercial fraud of selling less food than the purchaser supposes 
he is receiving for his money — i. e., milk watered, skimmed, or naturally 
of less than average quality. 

SANITARY LAWS AND INSPECTION. 

All of the States have laws relative to the healthfulness of the milk 
supply. Massachusetts, Maine, Phode Island, and New Hampshire 
prohibit the sale of milk from sick or diseased cows or cows fed upon 
the refuse of breweries or distilleries or upon any substance deleterious 
to its quality. Connecticut prohibits the sale of "impure milk" and 
milk from cows which shall have been adjudged by the commission 
upon diseases of domestic animals to be affected with tuberculosis or 
other blood disease. A Massachusetts law imposes a fine upon "who- 
ever knowingly feeds or has in his possession with intent to feed to 
any milch cow any garbage, refuse, or offal collected by any city or 
town." 

There is, however, no especial sanitary inspection of milk and its 
sources in any New England town or city, and cases are rarely brought 
in court for violation of any of the above sanitary laws. The milk 
inspection now in vogue relates almost exclusively to commercial frauds 
rather thau to health matters. The Massachusetts state board of 
health has done some good work in investigating several typhoid-fever 
epidemics, which in a number of cases have been traced to the milk 
supply. Local boards of health, however, have considerable authority, 
and in several cases they have issued orders or made regulations in 
advance of the average practice of the State. Hartford, Conn., Port- 
land, Me., and Lynn, Mass., are instances. The contagious-cattle- 
disease law of Massachusetts provides for a cattle inspector in each 
town, who makes a semiannual inspection of neat stock, quarantining 
suspected animals, which are subsequently tuberculin-tested, and if 
found to be diseased are destroyed. Tn a few instances — Pittsfield, for 
example — the milk inspector and cattle inspector are one and the same 
person, which is a decided advantage. 



31 

The milk inspector of Nashua, N. H., has a unique and commendable 
system of sanitary inspection of the milk supply of that city, which is 
said to work well. Although his official powers are confined to the 
city limits and to the commercial fraud of selling adulterated or low- 
grade milk, all peddlers — mostly producers — are required to answer the 
following questions when they register: 

1. Name of owner? 2. Number of cows? 3. Number of each breed? 4. Food of 
cows? 5. How is manure stored? 6. Quantity of milk produced per day? 7. Where 
is milk stored? 8. How is milk cooled? 9. Temperature of milk when sold? 
10. Source of water supply for stock and for washing cans? II. Distance of water 
supply from barnyard; from privy vault; from cesspool? 12. Are any cows sick 
upon your premises; if so, how many, and with what disease? 13. Are any 
persons engaged in handling milk sick? 

The inspector also calls from time to time on the farmers who pro- 
duce milk for the city, even when they reside out of his official juris- 
diction. He makes such investigation of the premises as he is permitted, 
and reports to the board of aldermen the condition of affairs. The 
board then orders the report published in the local papers. To most 
milk producers the publicity of an unfavorable milk report is more of 
a punishment than a court fine, while a favorable report is a valuable 
advertisement. Hence, as much is accomplished as if there were more 
stringent laws, and there is none of the friction that might arise from 
over-officiousness or unpopular official prying. He also issues the 
following: 

[Circular.] 

City of Nashua, N. H., 
Department op Milk Inspection. 
The importance of education in the better care of milk is so great that I feel it a 
duty to call attention to certain precautions necessary to a good product. The 
average farmer has so many cares that he sometimes fails to give this important sub- 
ject proper attention. 

Milk in the udder of the healthy cow contains none of the microorganisms of 
fermentation or decay, and could it be drawn thence into an hermetically sealed 
receptacle, without coming in contact with the air, it would keep without change for 
an indefinite time. Of course this is not practicable in an ordinary dairy, but care 
can certainly be exercised that the surrounding atmosphere with which it does 
come in contact is as free as possible from germs, odors, or taints, for these the milk 
absorbs with great rapidity. 

Milk which has stood for ten minutes iu an open vessel in a tainted atmosphere 
will be found to contain from 10,000 to 100,000 germs per cubic centimeter (a cubic 
centimeter represents about one-third of a cubic inch), while in two hours from 
2,000,000 to 5,000,000 germs will be found per cubic centimeter. This prodigious 
increase can be stopped by removing the milk to a proper cooler. I have explained 
the necessity of pure water and wholesome food for cows so often before that I 
will not repeat it. But I wish to call attention to the following precautions in the 
handling of milk : 

All stables should be ventilated. 
They should be as clean as possible. 
Cows should be carefully groomed. 

The milk should be drawn from the cow as rapidly as possible. 
The milk should not be left standing in the stable a moment longer than 
necessary. 



32 

The cooler should be so remote from the stable that no odors can reach it. 
Its temperature should be at from 45° to 50° F., and 
The milk should be aerated to remove animal odors. 
Under these improved conditions cows not only yield better milk but more of it, 
and amply repay the labor and trouble expended upon them. 

There are in this vicinity dairies infamous alike in their cruelty to animals, in 
their brutalizing influence upon men, and in their disease-spreading effects upon 
infants and the general community ; but I believe that a vast majority of our farmers 
desire to do right if but the means and knowledge were presented to them. 

I. F. Graves, Inspector of Milk. 

Health orders. — The board of health, of the city of Boston has the 
following regulation : 

Whereas cows' milk is one of the most common and necessary articles of food, and 
is oftentimes seriously impaired in usefulness and rendered dangerous to health by 
the want of proper care in its production or subsequent treatment and handling; it 
is, therefore, ordered that the following regulation be and is hereby adopted: 

Section 1. No person shall use any building as a stable for cows unless it con- 
tains at least 1,000 cubic feet of space for each animal, is well lighted and ventilated, 
has tight roof and floors, good drainage, a supply of pure water, and all other nec- 
essary means for maintaining the health and good condition of the cows, and has 
been approved by the board of health. 

Sec. 2. Every person using any such building shall keep the same and the prem- 
ises connected therewith, and all land used for pasturage of the cows, clean and free 
from filth. 

Sec. 3. Every person keeping a milch cow shall permit it to be examined from 
time to time, as to its freedom from disease, by a veterinarian designated by the 
board of health. 

Sec. 4. No person having an infectious disease, or having recently been in contact 
with any siich person, shall milk cows or handle cans, measures, or other vessels 
used for milk intended for sale, or in any way take part or assist in handling milk 
intended for sale, until all clanger of communicating such disease to other persons 
shall have passed. 

Sec. 5. No person shall sell or use for human food the milk of a diseased cow, or 
permit such milk to be mixed witli other milk, nor until it has been boiled shall use 
such milk, or any mixture of such milk, for food of swine or other animals. 

QUALITY OF MILK SOLD. 

The word quality when applied to milk may mean the amount of milk 
solids (which is the best acceptation) or it may have reference to flavor, 
disease germs, bacteria of decay, etc. From what has been said above 
it will be seen that in whatever sense we use the word the quality of 
milk receives considerable attention, especially as to its composition. 

In Massachusetts the law creating a legal standard of 12 and 13 per 
cent is well enforced, and milk in the market usually averages even 
above the standard. All of the large Boston wholesalers employ 
chemists, who devote all of their time to testing the supplies which they 
receive. If the milk of any dairy is below the statute standard, warn- 
ing is sent to the producer, and if the warning does not result in an 
improved quality of milk the supply from that dairy is dropped. In 
some instances where there is unmistakable evidence of watering the 



33 

case is turned over to State officials for prosecution. This unofficial 
inspection weeds out a lot of milk that might be below the standard 
before it is put on the market, and insures to peddlers the purchase of 
milk that will not get them into trouble. 

In Providence a lower standard exists than in Massachusetts, which 
causes the milk inspector some trouble. Most natural milk has over 12 
per cent of solids. A small amount of water can be added to 13 or 14 
per cent milk without changing the proportion of fat and solids not fat 
sufficiently to warrant a verdict against the adulterator. Most judges 
will convict only when the milk is below the statute standard, and do 
not feel convinced of the guilt of the defendant on the simple assertion of 
a chemist that the relation of fat and solids not fat is such as to create 
a certainty that the milk is adulterated. 

In the smaller cities and towns statistics from samples of milk taken 
by various officials show, usually, a higher quality than samples from 
milk sold in Boston or Providence, although the milk in those places is 
lip to the statutory standard, for the closer the contact between the 
producer and consumer the better the quality of the milk. The occa- 
sional meeting of producer and consumer, face to face, has a tonic and 
stimulating effect on the former, which tends to keep up the quality of 
the milk supply. One of the disadvantages of shipping milk by rail- 
road is that the producer never sees the consumer, oftentimes not even 
the peddler, and has no interest in his supply further than to avoid a 
word of warning from the contractor's -chemist. 

Milk substantially above the statutory standard is more frequently 
found among farmers retailing their own milk supply direct to con- 
sumers than elsewhere. 

The following is the result of analyses of milk taken from milkmen 
by officers of the Massachusetts Dairy Bureau in the regular discharge 
of their routine duties, and throws an accurate sidelight on the per 
cent of solids sold. These samples were taken in May and June, when 
the legal standard is 12 per cent. 

Worcester : Samples from 28 milkmen ranged from 12 to 14.34 per 
cent total solids and averaged 13.06 per cent. 

Taunton: Five samples ranged from 12.54 to 14.28 and averaged 
13.50 per cent. 

New Bedford: Thirty samples ranged from 11.84 to 15.02 and aver- 
aged 13.30 per cent; 14 of them were above this average. 

The following are the figures of four days' routine work of the Boston 
milk inspector. The standard for July is 12 per cent. 
14777— No. 20 3 



34 

Inspections for four days in July. 



Samples from shops Number. 

Samples from wagons do.. 

Above the standard : 

From shops do.. 

From wagons do .. 

Below the standard : 

From shops do . . 

From wagons do . . 

Poorest sample above standard Per cent. 

Poorest sample found do . . 



12.12 
11.92 



9 19 

21 31 

— ■ 30 50 

9 18 

20 31 



12.06 
11. 96 



12.06 
11.20 



29th. 




30 
30 



27 



12.25 
11.40 



The Providence milk inspector reported that lie examined 24 samples 
of milk on tbe 24th of July and 47 samples on the 26th, and found the 
results as follows: 



Number of 
samples. 


Total solids (per cent). 


Fat (per cent). 


Solids not fat (per cent) . 


High- 
est. 


Low- 
est. 


Aver- 
age. 


High- 
est. 


Low- 
est. 


Aver- 
age. 


High- 
est. 


Low- 
est. 


Aver- 
age. 


24 


13.75 
* 14. 35 


11.10 
19.65 


12.60 
12.21 


5.00 
*6.00 


3.00 
2.20 


3.81 
3.59 


9.40 
9.39 


7.50 
t7. 25 


8.80 
8.63 


47 




* 


Same sa 


mple. 








t Same sample. 





This inspector remarks : " This does not represent the average quality 
of the milk sold in Providence, neither would the figures obtainable for 
any other two days, unless by chance." 

The following figures are from the inspector of milk at Lowell: 



Average solids for February, 1897 
Average solids for June 5. 1897 . . 
Average solids for June 21, 1897 . 
Average solids for July 19., 1897. . 



Number 
Per cent. of 



13.42 
12.96 
13. 00 
12.82 



197 

237 

23 

24 



The above figures will give some idea of the amount of solid matter 
in milk as sold in New England cities. 

Regarding milk in the second sense of the word "quality," we are 
confronted by two positive opinions, and those apparently very contra- 
dictory. In spite of the healthfulness of the Boston milk supply, Pro- 
fessor Sedgwick, of the Institute of Technology, a bacteriologist of note, 
embraces every opportunity to criticise Boston milk. 

On the other hand, Dr. Conn, of Wesleyan University, a well-known 
bacteriologist who has made dairy products a special study, says what 
might be construed as a flat contradiction — that Boston has probably a 
better milk supply than any other city in the world. There is doubtless 
truth in both statements, their seeming inconsistency being explained 
by the different standpoint of the two students. One speaks from the 



35 

standpoint of the idealist, and iinds much that needs condemnation; 
the other speaks of things comparatively, as he finds them in many 
places. 

Much of the milk supply of Boston comes from such distances that 
the selfish interests of the producers compel precautions that otherwise 
would be unnecessary. Filthy milk, drawn under indifferent condi- 
tions, will not be sweet and wholesome when from 40 to 70 hours old. 
Consequently, the railroad milk must be, even without legal require- 
ment, more or less carefully attended to. Many of the farmers who 
ship milk to Boston have ice or running spring water for the quick and 
immediate cooling of milk, and if their methods get too slovenly the 
fact is recorded in the poorer keeping qualities of the milk, and some- 
times in its return as sour. It is often the fact that the precautions 
necessary to care for this milk shipped from a distance are such that 
after arriving in the city it will keep longer than milk from nearby, the 
producer of the latter not taking so much pains because the milk was 
to be delivered at once. 

The general dissemination of information as to the bacteriological 
cause of milk's souring — the work of colleges, experiment stations, and 
newspapers — is leading farmers to become more and more particular in 
regard to cooling it as soon as possible after milking, and taking the 
other necessary precautious for the purpose of insuring its keeping. 
Another influence, however, is pulling the other way. Quite a change 
in the nationality of the farmers is going on. Farms are passing from 
the native New England stock into the hands of those more recently 
descended from other countries, thrifty, industrious people, and good 
citizens, but for the time being in some instances they are not as well 
informed in the latest and best agricultural methods. They are not 
book farmers, and frequently a change of farm owners means a tempo- 
rary deterioration in the milk supply from that farm. 

The methods of some city peddlers are open to criticism; their milk 
headquarters and their stables are often one and the same building, and 
sometimes the mixing and canning is not done under perfectly clean 
conditions. 

Outside of Boston the milk supply is reasonably good, as the times 
go. A general improvement in the supply of the different cities is 
reported by correspondents. They say that the farmers producing milk 
are generally reliable and honest; that it is for the most part cooled in 
running water or ice tanks, and that great improvement has been made 
daring the last few years. Nearly all, however, urge further advances 
along this line; and while most of the correspondents not only note 
improvement but claim that their town or city compares well with 
others, they recognize room for further improvement, and call especial 
attention to the need of more cleanliness in every department — in 
vehicles, cans, and the milkmen themselves. Some emphasize the 
importance of more care in cooling and aeration. 



36 

The general attention which has been given to tuberculosis during 
the past few years has resulted in the destruction of many tuberculous 
herds, and this has doubtless had a beneficial effect on the milk supply. 
All of the New England States, except possibly Ehode Island, have 
had popular agitations of this subject, and sharp dissension has arisen. 
The point in dispute has been whether the degree of danger from tuber- 
culous milk was sufficient to warrant the public expense and losses to 
cow owners incident to radical measures in combating the disease. 
Whatever may be the views of different persons on this subject, all 
must admit that many tuberculous herds have been exterminated, and 
that this, at least, can not have injured the milk supply. As a result 
of this agitation, every town in Massachusetts has a cattle inspector, 
who makes a semiannual examination of the cows in his town. His 
official authority is confined to quarantining suspected animals, but 
the system has done much good in a suggestive way, in improving ven- 
tilation, increasing the amount of light, and reducing the uncleanliness 
of stables. 

On the whole, the milk supply of New England cities seems reason- 
ably up to the best average practice of the present times. 

NEED OF ADVANCED PRACTICES. 

As to more advanced practices, however, it seems that very little is 
being done. The ideal way of selling milk is not on a dead level at one 
price, but on its merits and at a price proportionate to quality. A little 
is already being done in this direction, and a number of dairymen with 
Jersey or Guernsey herds sell milk above the going price. But we 
know of no milk sold on a guarantee of its content of solids. It com- 
mands an extra price because people know that the milk of such cows 
is richer than the milk of other cows, and also because it has an improved 
quality in other directions. 

A large dairy farm in Worcester County has for years run to Boston 
a car of milk from superior Jersey herds, which has been sold above 
the current price for milk, for the most part at 10 cents per quart. No 
specific amount of total solids has been guaranteed, but the milk has 
been better than 13 per cent — nearer 15. When individual glass bottles 
first came in vogue this company was a pioneer in their use, and later 
when tuberculin was discovered it was the first to advertise milk from 
tuberculin-tested cows. Indeed, it still produces the only milk so 
advertised and sold in Boston. Great pains is taken with the milk on 
the farm and it is always in good condition. 

A resident of the city of Newton, a residential suburb of Boston, 
has developed a milk business calling for the product of about 150 
cows. The milk is sold within a narrow radius to people who might 
be called his neighbors, who have seen or heard of his methods, and 
who desire the milk. His cows'are Jerseys, tuberculin-tested, kept in 
one-story barns, with no manure cellar underneath and no hay lofts 



37 

overhead. Light and ventilation are ample. Scrupulous cleanliness 
prevails. Great pains is taken to promote the comfort of the animals. 
The newest barn has no stanchions, but provides a bos stall 7 by 9 
feet for each cow. The milk is run through a cooler as soon as drawn, 
and kept cool by artificial refrigeration — ammonia process. It is then 
bottled in glass jars, being at a temperature of 38 to 40 degrees, and 
delivered at once to customers. There are two deliveries a day, and 
the milk is not over two hours old when in the hands of consumers. 

The use of glass jars for the delivery of milk is growing and is some- 
what common, though used as yet by a small minority of milkmen. 
Pasteurizing milk is done only to a limited extent. Here and there 
some pioneer has entered into this field. The Massachusetts Agricul- 
tural College and one or two enterprising dairy farmers within reach of 
Boston have recently added pasteurizing apparatus to their dairy equip- 
ment, and are selling sterilized milk and cream. The number who sell 
pasteurized milk, in proportion to the whole, is extremely small; still 
there has been a satisfactory beginning, and frequently additions are 
made to the number of those who are advancing in this direction. 

The pasteurizing of cream is more common. Some of the concerns 
who supply cream in a wholesale way pasteurize all of their output to 
enhance its keeping qualities. 

A company started in Boston several years ago the sale of "modified" 
milk. By patent processes this "laboratory" prepares from cream, 
skim milk, and sugar of milk a compounded milk of any desired com- 
position, for infants and invalids. The company has its own herd of 
cows, well cared for, to supply the milk. 

Some of the large milk dealers of the city are experimenting with 
filtered milk, and introducing it on a limited scale. The process 
enhances its keeping qualities, and the milk so treated has been shown 
by microscopical examination to be almost as free from bacteria as 
pasteurized milk. 

O 



LB Fe '07 



